No, because he won't be driving Lewis' McLaren. Smoke will drive the 1995 McLaren that they modified to fit around Nigel Mansell.

All kidding aside, Smoke actually did go on a diet this year and lost about 15 to 20 lbs. Won't be long before he's doing Carl Edwards style back flips.

About women drivers, I think Cassee makes a strong point. Although, I suspect Danica has a smaller hat size than most F1 drivers, thus slightly less weight to support by her neck. No, I'm not suggesting she's an air-head. On the other hand, you do need an over-inflated ego to be able to compete in F1, soooo....what was my point again?

Hmmmmmmmm.. maybe the neck muscles won't be a problem at all. Look how small Massa is, someone like Hayley Wickenhauser could beat him up with one hand.

Does Danica have it? I don't know but she wouldn't get into it unless she thought she could.I always liked Kathryn Legge. Don't know what happened to her.--------------------

It's most likely much more hope than optimism. I think if the Renault gamble of going radical would pay off Nick has the professionalism and proven consistency to make a dent in the standings. Once he broke the camel's back with that 1st win others could follow without too much difficulty ( only if the Renault has wings )

""He was less relaxed when asked about the new generation of grand prix venues. "These modern circuits; you see nothing, the grandstands are too far from the track," he said. "There is no sense of speed, you don't appreciate the drivers' risks. Anyone playing a video game thinks he can do the same thing." ""

""The Russian admitted he feared the car was not good when he first tested it, but conceded he is now feeling a lot better about it.

"In the beginning on the first day of testing I was not happy about the car. I was thinking I was in the s*** maybe, because it was really difficult to drive with these tyres. If the car started to lose the rear, you couldn't control it because it was so quick.

"With the Bridgestone you could control it, you could slide, do a rally a little bit, you know? But with these tyres, if it comes, it comes quite quick and it's difficult to control.

"But now that we have a lot of new aero parts and a lot of other new things it is getting better and better. I think after a few grands prix we will have more parts coming and it will be much better."""

Liuzzi and Karthikeyan have been forced to sit out testing in Barcelona The struggling Hispania team will go into the new season having not tested their new car after they were forced to call off a planned run on Saturday.

The team were unable to test after launching their new car on Friday because parts were held up in customs.

Team boss Colin Kolles said on Friday evening that they could not get the suspension components out.

"The result of this is that we can't run tomorrow," he said. "This is life and we will overcome this problem."

Saturday, the final day of pre-season testing at the Circuit de Catalunya near Barcelona, was to have been the only day's running of the car before the first race of the season in Australia on 27 March.

It means the car's first miles will be in first practice for the Melbourne race on Friday 25 March.

It will be the second year in a row that Hispania have arrived at the first race with an untested car.

Last year, which was their debut season, they also missed much of Friday practice as they completed the building of their cars.

Drivers Narain Karthikeyan and Vitantonio Liuzzi have tested this winter in the 2010 car, the slowest on the grid in 2010.

Hispania's withdrawal means that only four teams will take part in the final day of testing on Saturday - Ferrari, McLaren, Mercedes and Williams.

Yeah, not much credibility left in HRT...not that they hand any to begin with. They are becoming quite the annoyance. They claimed that one of their pay drivers (Yamamoto, I believe?) had food poisoning and Klien had to step in for one of last year's GPs. Yamamoto disputed the claim, and by miraculous coincidence an Austrian liquour sponsor, based in Kliens' hometown, appeared on the car.

Only thing more hilarious than that fairy tale was Dr. Theissen's story about the dropped engine

There are a lot of preview type stories kicking around this week – not surprisingly – but the “Michael says I can still win” kind of thing is really not that exciting and I’ve been flat out doing the preview edition of Grand Prix Plus, which should hit subscribers tonight or tomorrow, depending on things beyond my control. Then I’ll knock out the weekly newsletter, pay some bills, worry about Chinese visas and then I’ll peck my Significant Other farewell and will be flying to Oztralia on Monday. Oh, and I forgot, I’ve been redesigning websites in my spare time… So, yes, the blog had been quiet because there is nothing to say, and other things to do. I might write a treatise about Japan but the whole mess that has been going on there since the earthquake. It is a reminder of the power of Mother Nature and also of the power of media immediacy in the modern age. We have all seen the tsunami up close and personal and I found this a very humbling experience. Mountains of water do not discriminate between rich and poor, black or white, Sunni or Shia. A pal of mine rang yesterday and said that we should forget the Japanese Grand Prix. I hope not. I hope that whatever happens we will be there in autumn to show our support for the Japanese. They deserve that. Bahrain on the other hand seems a very sad and wasted chapter in F1 history. I got to like the place and the people and I hate to see what is happening there but I cannot see us going back any time soon. Even if the people in charge restore their regime, I believe that Formula 1 should not associate itself with the kind of things that have been going on there on recent days. I feel very sorry for the moderate and intelligent folk because the country is being ruined by people who cannot grasp the lessons of history. Despots cannot last forever, particularly in a world where the Internet shows us all what everyone else is doing.

I am looking forward to Melbourne. Aside from a noisy bunch of whingers (Poms, no doubt) the Australians are a great nation and the GP is a great event. If they are stupid enough to let it go then what can you do? Hopefully F1 is not dumb enough to leave.

And hopefully the sport is smart enough to know the kind of places it should be going in the future… based on concepts other than just money.

They should recruit Peter Windbag to be an advisor. Apart from recording a weekly F1 radio show in his basement, I hear he's available.

I have high hopes for this F1 season, mostly due to Pirelli. By the sound of it, they've been quite aggressive with tyre development in the face of harsh criticism from pampered prima donnas like Trulli.

It's not surprising that Trulli has the biggest problem with the high tyre degradation as he's always been a guy who's quick over one lap but can't keep up his race pace because of balance changes due to tyre wear.

So what's your take on yesterday's season opener, Cassee? My two cents:

1-McLaren has all the power/speed needed on straightaways with the combination of KERS and adjustable wing. They however do seem to lack something otherwise.2-Petrov has done it again. Abu-Dhabi part 2 in Australia... Fly off on the start, then hold your position. 3-Ferrarri seems to me like thay have a quicker car than they showed yesterday.

Australia is not your typical track. Malaysia should give us a better idea of the true pecking order. Plus the feedback from the first race. Sadly Red Bull's KERS wasn't working so we may see even more speed out of them.All and all it still looks like the same three leading the way with Mercedes, Renault, and maybe Sauber offering a challenge here and there.

They should recruit Peter Windbag to be an advisor. Apart from recording a weekly F1 radio show in his basement, I hear he's available.

I have high hopes for this F1 season, mostly due to Pirelli. By the sound of it, they've been quite aggressive with tyre development in the face of harsh criticism from pampered prima donnas like Trulli.

It's not surprising that Trulli has the biggest problem with the high tyre degradation as he's always been a guy who's quick over one lap but can't keep up his race pace because of balance changes due to tyre wear.

Bring on Oz!

Love it.

As for Oz, it didn't do much for me. Vettel had no competition. Hamilton did well as did Petrov.

Button screwed up. Massa seemed to be back to his old self.

Schuey was a major disappointment again. Maybe he was never that great a driver.

By the way, what is the latest on Jacques ? Anything on an Indy car appearance in the 500 or the Las Vegas 5 million dollar deal ?Nothing concrete @ NASCAR ? What about following Kimi with a team of his own ?Times a ticking.

sessions wrote:By the way, what is the latest on Jacques ? Anything on an Indy car appearance in the 500 or the Las Vegas 5 million dollar deal ?Nothing concrete @ NASCAR ? What about following Kimi with a team of his own ?Times a ticking.

sessions

We do not know anything for sure sessions. But the current spin on things is that he is trying to build a nationwide team, which could lead to more or less 12 races in 2011, and hopefully a full ride from 2012 on.